In United States Letters Patent No. 3,613,266, granted Oct. 19, 1971, there are disclosed a method for enhancing the ability of individuals to form clear mental images of relatively complex data indicative of environments in which they may be called upon to perform tasks. By utilization of the methods and apparatus disclosed in this patent, an individual may be rapidly trained to react accurately to various situations which he may encounter in an actual working environment and other individuals may be maintained at high performance levels through avoiding skill degradation during periods of relative inactivity with respect to a given environment.
Although the method and apparatus of the aforementioned patent have enjoyed substantial acceptance, the need for printed or otherwise reproduced documents indicative of a given environment and prerecorded documents evidencing the correct response for comparison with the subject's response has limited the application of the concept to single or simple sequences of instructions and responsive actions. The limitation of such a documentary approach has presented problems from the standpoint of storage of the information and evaluation of the subject's progress over a period of time. Similarly, the documentary approach has not enabled a dynamic situation to be presented to the subject requiring instantaneous or consecutive acts in response to a given instruction or series of instructions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus for enhancing an individual's capacity to develop accurate mental images of data by use of rapid acting and variable electrical equipment for generating a visual display of an environment and for recording the action of the subject to alter data within that environment and thereafter presenting to the subject images of the data as correctly changed and as changed by his action.
It is also an object to provide such a method and apparatus wherein there is provided concurrently an auditory environment corresponding to the visual environment.
Another object is to provide such a method and apparatus in which the visual display and/or the auditory environment are altered concurrently with action of the subject in response to an instruction.
A further object is to provide such a method and apparatus in which the visual image is changed a plurality of times in a concurrent sequential excercise and the series of actions by the subject are recorded in response to instructions with respect to the changing images for subsequent presentation and comparison.